Undercover
by SnowySkyy
Summary: Lucy was a having a perfectly normal day at Magnolia High School. Well, it was perfectly normal until Levy dragged her to Fairy Tail, her workplace. There, she discovers almost all her friends are agents there, and that she's only been dragged there because one of FT's top agents, Natsu, needs her help finding a murderer. How? By becoming the murderer's prey.
1. A perfectly normal day

**Disclaimer : **I don't own Fairy Tail. As if it wasn't already obvious.

A door creaked open, letting the cool morning air pour into a small apartment. A young woman got out, and returned the door to its original position before securely locking it, as she usually did. She then turned around, facing the canal across from the street. As usual, she jumped onto the canal's slightly raised border, her backpack softly landing on her back as her feet landed on the border. Every day, the same two men passing by on a boat would tell her to be careful not to fall off, and that day was no exception.

"Be careful not to fall off, Lucy-san!" were the fisher's exact words.

Lucy's response was also always the same: "I am!"

And so Lucy continued walking along the canal's border, arms stretched sideways as to keep her balance. When finally she arrived at her destination, she jumped off the border, and crossed the street, slightly adjusting her uniform on the way to Magnolia High School.

Lucy entered her classroom and sat down mere moments before her teacher, Gildarts, came in. One of her classmates, however, wasn't as lucky as she was. A salmon-haired boy came storming in the classroom a few minutes later. Gildarts turned around, ready to yell at the person who dared be late to his class, but just sighed and got back to the lesson once he found out who it was. The boy then sat down, two seats next to Lucy. Between them were Levy and Gray, who she'd met a few days ago, when she transferred to MH.

'It's strange' thought Lucy. 'I've been here a few days already, but I've never seen that guy before. That means he wasn't in school... Maybe he was just sick. Yeah, that must be it.'

After that thought, Lucy reported her attention back to the lesson, taking a few notes. She didn't notice the boy staring at her for a while, before quietly whispering something to Gray.

* * *

When the bell rang for lunch, Lucy quickly packed her things and waited for Levy to do the same, before exiting the classroom. As they were making their way through the crowded hallways, she noticed a blob of pink hair. Her curiosity stirred up again, and so she decided to ask Levy about him: "Levy-chan, you know that pink haired boy that came to class late? How come I've never seen him before?"

"Oh, Natsu?" came Levy's quick answer. "Well, that's because he wasn't here. He was… sick."

"Oh, okay." answered Lucy.

"By the way, don't ever say his hair his pink in front of him. He always insists it's _salmon_."

An unknown voice then cut in on the conversation: "That's because it is! Anyways, Levy, I need to talk to you. It's important."

The girls turned around to see the voice's owner, and, standing right behind them, was Natsu. To Lucy's surprise, Levy agreed, and told her that she would meet her at the cafeteria, at their usual table, before walking away.

* * *

**With Natsu and Levy**

"Okay, I'll make this quick. You know that A-class board back at Fairy Tail?" Levy quickly nodded. "You know the most wanted person on that board?" another quick nod. "I think that new girl could help us catch him." This time, the nod was much slower. Levy was considering what Natsu was saying, before curtly answering "no."

Natsu just sighed, knowing Levy would be the hardest to convince. "Listen Lev, I just got out of a week-long tiring mission to try and find that guy, but he's not FT's most wanted A-class criminal for nothing. I've never failed a mission before, and I'll only say this once: I. Can't. Find. Him." Natsu got out through gritted teeth, and sighed, running a hand through his hair, before continuing "I want to find him, but can't. He's too good a hider. The only way to get to him, is to make him get to us. Except we don't know where he'll strike next. You want to catch him just as bad as I do, right? Well I found a way to catch him. And I can't do this without your friend's help."

Levy sighed, rubbing her temples. She knew that if Natsu, one of Fairy Tail's top agents, couldn't find that guy, then no one could. He was the best at finding people, even when they haven't been seen in years. He always found what he was looking for, never has he failed a mission before. So if Natsu actually asked for someone else's help, that meant there was no other way.

"Alright, what's your plan?"

**A/N : Wow, can't believe I'm actually posting this. My first published fanfiction! Please review to tell me what you think! Also, English is not my native language, so feel free to point out any errors.  
**


	2. A-class man

**Disclaimer :** I don't own Fairy Tail

When Levy arrived at the cafeteria, Lucy was happily chatting with Erza and Juvia. Lucy was turning her back to her while Erza and Juvia could see her, so as soon as they spotted her, they shot her a questioning look. Levy sighed and nodded almost imperceptibly, before putting up a big smile and sitting next to Lucy, who opened her mouth to ask but was cut off by Erza:

"Lucy told us Natsu asked to speak to you; it was about his homework, right?"

Levy just nodded. 'Homework' was the code word for 'mission', so they could talk about it almost in front of anybody. Well, in this case, in front of Lucy. Levy's phone suddenly vibrated: she cast a quick glance at it before sighing. Levy hated keeping secrets from Lucy, but luckily, that secret shouldn't be a problem anymore after tonight.

"Hey, Lu-chan, how would you like it if I showed you where I work?" she asked as cheerfully as she could.

"I'd love that!" came Lucy's happy answer.

* * *

"So… where do you work?" asked Lucy, to stir up a conversation.

"We're here!" Levy said, ignoring her best friend's question.

Standing in front of them was a huge glass building, about 10 stories high. Lucy stopped, taking in the building's beauty. 'Fairy Tail' was somehow engraved into the glass right above the entrance, the name itself surrounded by a fairy with a tail on the left, and a tail-less fairy on the right. Around them where very small, intricate designs. Levy then took Lucy's hand and started pulling her into the building.

"Come on, Natsu's gonna kill us if we don't hurry up, well unless Erza gets to us first!" at this, Lucy looked at Levy, stopping in front of the elevator, "Wait, what does Natsu have to do with all this? And Erza also? And you actually work at Fairy Tail? As in, _the _bad guy catching ass kicking Fairy Tail?"

The elevator door opened, revealing an impatient looking Natsu and Erza.

"There you are! We're all waiting for you, hurry up!" shouted Erza, ushering them in, then sending the elevator up.

The elevator ride was silent. No one dared speak a word, in fear of angering the mighty Erza. As they went up, Lucy couldn't help but wonder… '_why is an elevator called an elevator when it can not only elevate, but also lower? Why isn't it called a lowerator then? Or just call it a moving box, that way everyone will be happy? And-_' her nervous thoughts –as she called them when they got weird like that - were cut short when the ele- _moving box_'s doors opened. So they all stepped out of said _moving box_, and went straight to a big room at the far back. Well, Natsu, Levy and Erza did, Lucy just got dragged by Erza.

Lucy got in to find Juvia and Gray, seated on one of the many chairs surrounding a huge table that almost filled the room. All the walls were dark gray, except for the one at the far end of the table – where things were projected Lucy guessed. Lucy was guided to a chair and sat down between Erza and Natsu, who sat down next to Gray. Levy was seated next to Erza. Someone that Lucy hadn't noticed at first then cleared his throat. All eyes turned to the small man standing right next to the white wall. Lucy recognized him as Magnolia High's principal. Wait, MH's principal? Well, Lucy had had so many surprises in one day she couldn't be more.

"Gray, turn the lights off and start the presentation." ordered Makarov. Gray did as told, and on the white wall appeared the picture of a man in his in a supermarket. He was staring intently at a girl standing in front of him, who was too busy picking tomatoes to notice him.

"The man in the picture is our prime suspect for the disappearance of 5 girls in the past month. Behavioral analysis suggests he is also guilty one the rape and murder of one girl, 47 days ago. The girl was found dead the next day." At this, pictures of a bruised girl lying dead on leaves in the middle of a forest were shown. Lucy winced; the corpse seemed in bad shape. That poor girl must've lived a horrible death. "Back to the man. His name is still unknown, experts say he's between 40 and 50 years old. He's at the top of our A-class board, meaning he's quite dangerous. The only rank above A class is S class. All girls that have disappeared were last seen leaving the market. This picture is our only lead on all the disappearances, which proves he knows exactly what he's doing, how to hide, and he's doing it well, so well, that even Fairy Tail's top agent in that field, couldn't find him."

A small silence ensued. Lucy decided she should speak first: "So… Let me get this straight. Levy, Erza, Natsu, Juvia and Gray are all agents of Fairy Tail, Fiore's elite crime department? And Magnolia High's principle is actually FT's leader?"

Everyone in the room sighed.

"Lucy, this is serious. We're talking about a murderer. Can we please talk about our jobs later?" Erza asked.

"Well, yeah, sure. But… I still don't get why I'm here."

At this, everyone looked at Natsu:

"Okay, fine, I'll tell her. But by making me tell her you all admit I'm the bestest fighter." "The best, Natsu." Erza corrected. Natsu smirked: "Good. Okay, so, Lucy. First of all, hi, I'm Natsu Dragneel, we still didn't get a chance to meet properly" Natsu said, holding out his hand so Lucy could shake it. "Hi, I'm Lucy Heartfilia, nice to meet you" Lucy answered, sending a dazzling smile his way before shaking hands with him.

"It's nice to meet you too. Okay, so let me explain why you're here. The thing is, I couldn't find that guy. So I have a plan to catch him. You see, the second girl disappeared 10 days after the first one got murdered, and the third one disappeared 10 days after that. After that, the delay just kept shortening: the fourth girl disappeared on the 8th day after the third's disappearance, the fifth disappeared 6 days after that, and the sixth girl was kidnapped yesterday, 3 days after the fifth girl's disappearance. The thing is, he only goes out when he finds his prey, before she even walks into the store. Before even going into the store, he checks to see if there are any FT agents around. That's why we can't catch him."

"But you can, Lu-chan." Levy interjected.

"Behavioral analysis suggests he might strike again today, between 3 and 5 o'clock." continued Natsu. "We need you to be his prey."

Okay, today was definitely not like any other usual day.

**Well, I decided I should upload another chapter since the first one was a bit short. Thanks nightmarerabbitalice for being my first follower!**


	3. Target Locked

Natsu's stare was unbearable. Lucy looked down at her hands to avoid it. She knew she was trapped: she couldn't just say no. They were all her friends, and they needed her help. But still, they were asking her to risk her life to catch a murderer.

"You... want me to get purposely kidnapped by a murderer?" Were the only words she could muster out.

"Yes, the plan is to find out where he lives, and then catch him. No harm should come to you. Please, help us catch him." Natsu said.

Lucy looked up to meet his pleading gaze.

"Could I think about it for a few minutes? Outside?"

"Sure, you can go to the rooftop if you want, it has a nice view and usually there's no one there."

Lucy stood up and quickly made her way to the door. When the door securely closed behind her, Erza spoke:

"I don't think it was such a good idea to ask her, Natsu. She doesn't seem to want to go with it"

"No, she'll do it, I'm sure of it." he said before exiting the room.

* * *

Lucy was leaning on the railing, taking in the beautiful scenery the huge building offered, andtrying to think straight. _Think, Lucy, think. Should you really do this? I mean, this is a murderer we're talking about. What if the plan backfires, or doesn't work? Or worse, the guy could find out about it and kill me, just for his pleasure. I could be found dead in the woods tomorrow morning._

"Don't you trust us?"

_Of course I do. Wait, who just spoke?_

Lucy spun around, to find Natsu in front of her, his hands in his pockets. She jumped backwards from the surprise, her back hitting the railing.

"You're thinking out loud, weirdo", he said, taking place next to Lucy on the railing, staring straight ahead. Before Lucy could answer, he continued: "If you trust us, then why are you worried about our plan not working?"

Lucy, whose back was still leaning against the railing, looked down to her shoes, feeling a bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry, it's just that... we can't know for sure if the plan will work right? As much as I trust all of you, I still can't help but think that something could go wrong."

"Then don't think about it, and just trust us. We'll keep you safe, no matter what. I promise I won't let anyone hurt you."

Hearing those words, Lucy looked to her left, and saw that Natsu had tore his gaze away from the distant mountains to look straight into her chocolate brown eyes. She could only stare back into those deep onyx eyes of his, taking in every detail.

After what felt to Lucy like a very long time, Natsu spoke again:

"Remember, it's risking your life to catch a murderer. But it's to save innocent lives."

Lucy stared down at her shoes one last time, before looking up, more determined than ever:

"I'll do it. I'm not letting anyone else die because of that man."

* * *

Everyone in the room was anxiously awaiting Natsu and Lucy's return. They were still seated around the table, their minds clouded with anxious thoughts, or maybe just one: what if Lucy refused? They hadn't thought of another way to catch him yet.

Suddenly, the doors burst open to reveal Natsu and Lucy. Everyone looked up, with hopeful eyes.

Erza finally asked the dreaded question:

"So, Lucy... Will you do it?"

Then they saw Natsu's expression. They didn't even need to hear Lucy's answer: Natsu's ear-to-ear grin was more than enough to provide them with an answer.

"Alright, let's do this!" exclaimed Natsu, grinning like a madman.

Lucy was rushed to the building's 4th floor, which was full of clothes. Lucy stared in amazement, mouth wide open at all the clothes the floor had. It had every style, in every color and size!

Lucy's contemplation was cut short when Erza pushed her towards a green haired person Lucy hadn't noticed before.

"Lucy, this is Bisca. She's Fairy Tail's best sharpshooter, and also our tailor. She's gonna dress you with wired, resistant clothes. Don't worry the wire will be hidden between two layers of tissue."

"Hi Lucy, it's nice to meet you, now please come this way," said Bisca. She ushered Lucy to the back of the floor, were there were changing rooms. Bisca then took Lucy's measures, and got to work on finding her a suitable outfit.

Mere minutes later, Lucy was dressed and ready to go. She was wearing cute high waisted shorts _attached _to a loose white tee shirt, so that way it was impossible to just pull it up or pull the shorts down.

Bisca, seeing Lucy's uneasy face when she realised _why _it was attached, immediately tried to reassure her: "Don't worry, it's just a precaution. Now, the wire is located in this jacket's left side" she said, giving her a jean jacket that matched the shorts perfectly. "It should be perfectly hidden from view"

"Great, thanks Bisca" answered Lucy, standing up from the red leather chair she was sitting on and putting the jacket on.

Bisca smiled at her work, everything fitted Lucy perfectly. Then, clapping both hands together, she realised it was time for Lucy to go. Gently pushing her towards the elevator, she wished her good luck for her mission.

Lucy went down to the first floor, where the gang was waiting for her. When they saw her, they wished her good luck and reminded her that they would always be less than 5 minutes away if something went wrong. Then they parted ways, all except for Natsu. He approached her slowly, stopping when they were only inches apart. Lucy's breath hitched and she blushed a bit, _what was he doing? _The salmon haired boy put his hand to her cheek, making her blush even harder. He brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his hand lingering a moment longer than it should have. At this point Lucy's face matched the color of Erza's hair.

"Good luck" said Natsu softly.

"Thanks" whispered Lucy.

At this Natsu turned around and headed to the elevator, so Lucy also turned around and went outside.

_Alright, I'm on my own now. I've got to look confident. Walk like it. Right. Don't look around yourself, or that can be suspicious. Just go to the store like you were going to buy... Chocolate. Yeah, chocolate. That's good. Oh look, I'm here!  
_Luc_y _almost came to halt in front of the store, but reminded herself she couldn't look suspicious, and got in.  
_Well, here goes nothing._

"Target changed. Target locked."

**I'm soooooooooooooooo so sorry for not updating sooner! I had written the next few chapters on my laptop, then it got stolen (shouldn't have forgotten to lock the front door, myself. Luckily that was the only thing missing from my house!), and I had to wait until like a week ago to get a new one. Hehe, where I come from, they give one to you for free when you enter highschool! So now I'll update more! I think I'll post a new chapter tomorrow, or the day after that.  
Anyway, any (constructive please!) criticism is more than welcomed. It's 3AM here, so.. good niiight!**


	4. The market encounter

"Levy, how's Lucy doing?" Erza asked.

"She just entered the store. So far so good."

Levy was seated in front of several screens. One showed a map of the city: a blue dot was slowly flashing, showing Lucy's position as determined by the GPS chip she had hidden well in her jean jacket, next to the wire. The other screens showed surveillance footage of the streets surrounding the store, and of its inside as well.

"Good, I want the rest of you to remain on standby and ready to intervene if something goes wrong." ordered Erza.

Although, officially, there was no group leader, there was some sort of silent agreement about the fact that it was Erza. Why? Well, simply because it's Erza. No one was suicidal enough to go against her.

* * *

**(Lucy's POV)**

I decided to go to the fruit aisle, since, if I remembered correctly, that was were the blind spot was. He'll probably feel more comfortable showing himself if there aren't any cameras there to see him.

As I got to the aisle, something caught my eye.

"Ooooh, lychees! It's been a while since I had some..." I said, temporarily forgetting the mission, and making my way to the juicy fruits, grabbing a plastic bag next to them and picking some.

I was so entranced in picking good lychees that I only noticed too late that someone was too busy typing something in his phone to notice I was in his way. He too seemed to realise his error too late. He bumped into me with a loud thud, making us both crash to the floor, him on top of me. He immediately scrambled off me when he noticed this, muttering apologies.  
Then, something surprising happened. Instead of holding out his hand to help me up, he actually lifted me up, grabbing me by the waist. I would've slapped him for that if he hadn't already run away, still apologizing.

"Well, that was.. weird..." I muttered. I picked up my bag of lychees, and continued my shopping. _I think I should buy at least three bags of groceries. That way I can act like it's too much for me to handle, and that should give him an opportunity to come!_

About 20 minutes later, I was finally paying for the food and other various items I had bought. I had bought three bags of groceries, just as planned. _Perfect_, I thought.  
Normally, handling those bags would be a breeze for me: after all, I lived alone in an apartment, I often had to buy a lot of things, three bags were a piece of cake. But, in order for my plan to work, I pretended to be having trouble with them.  
When one bag started falling, I 'tried' catching it, but ended up tripping instead. That was definitely not in my plan. _Curse myself and my clumsiness! _Were my last thoughts, before I hit the ground.

…

Wait, that wasn't the ground. Those are arms! Someone caught me! Yes! I inwardly smirked, and feigned a surprised, innocent expression while turning around to see who my savior was. This time, I really was surprised: it was the man from the lychees aisle! Wait, maybe it's not that surprising... Anyway, back to what's happening, myself!

"Hey, it's you from the fruits aisle! Thanks for helping me up there, and also for catching me here!" I said, sending him a bright smile. It took me all I had not to look disgusted by the man. Then I realized... I barely knew anything about him! How could I be sure that it was the suspect? I only knew he was in his mid-forties, which was also the case here. _Well, I can't do anything about it now, can I? Let's just say it's him. _I must've been too lost in my thoughts, because I saw the guy's lips move, but didn't hear anything.

"Huh?" was my, I have to admit it, very smart, reply.

"I said, are you gonna be okay with all those bags? I could help you if you like." answered the man, gently smiling at me. Well, smiling as gently as a criminal's smile could get.

"Oh, I'd love to! My house is a bit far away from here though, is that okay?"

"That's not a problem!" he answered, picking up the two bags that had fallen – surprisingly, I'd still managed to hold onto one even with the tripping – and waiting for me to lead the way. I could've swore he was smirking when he said that.

_Well, let's let him get what he wants, a perfect place with no witnesses to my kidnapping. And let's make that place FAR away from my apartment._

With that thought in mind, I walked the other way, the suspect following me.  
The walk was silent, and I walked further and further away from the city center.  
The sound of cars and crowds were slowly fading away, replaced by the sounds of our steps on the concrete floor.

Then, I stopped in front of a small house, deciding there probably wouldn't be any witnesses here. And just to comfort him into the idea a bit more, I said, without turning around to face him:

"Well, this is my house. It's a bit small, but it's more than enough since I live alone. Oh, and I know it's not a very safe place, since the people here don't really live looking out their windows, but it's still my home!"

Then I started looking for the house's keys in my pockets, even though I knew there was nothing there.

"Now, where are those k-"

I stopped mid-sentence when I felt him creep up to my back, a bit too close to me for my taste. Before I could even react to that, he wrapped his right arm around my waist, pulling me close enough to him that a single sheet of paper could hold between us, and the other wrapped itself around my mouth to prevent me from screaming. And breathing.

A barely audible whimper escaped my lips when I realized the situation I was in. Panic rushed through me. My hands flew to his left arm, to try to remove it, but to no avail. Instead, he let go of my waist, and grabbed both my wrists, effectively stopping them from moving. Then, the arm preventing me from breathing finally let go, but was quickly replaced with a cloth, which was probably soaked in chloroform. Even though I knew that, my lungs were begging me for air, so I took a large inspiration into the cloth.

I still struggled a bit, but I felt all my energy quickly draining from me, and my thoughts were getting more and more clouded.

_Let's get this over with, _was my last thought before I lost consciousness. The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was the floor approaching me at a quick speed.

* * *

"Lucy, what are you doing?" muttered Levy as she followed her progress with the security cameras. Lucy knew there was a blind spot at the fruit aisle, and she was headed there!

"Damn, now we're going to have to solely depend on what we hear."

"What's wrong, Levy?" inquired Juvia, whose eyes were wandering on all screens, wondering were Lucy had gotten.

"Well, Lucy's in the blind spot. Did she forget there was one there?"

Lucy's voice then came out of the speakers : _Ooooh, lychees! It's been a while since I had some..._

Hearing this, everyone sweat dropped. An unspoken sentence lingered in the air: _she's completely forgotten about the mission, hasn't she?_

Natsu's chuckling broke the silence.

"What's so funny, match brain?"

"What do you want, popsicle? Want me to kick your ass?"

Gray laughed: "As if you could."

"Boys, are you fighting?"

At Erza's intervention, Gray and Natsu immediately stood side to side and saluted.

"No ma'am!" they both shouted.

"Riiight." Erza didn't look very convinced. "Anyway, what was so funny Natsu?"

"Oh, right, that. Well, Lucy didn't forget it, on the contrary. She purposely went there the fool our guy into thinking it was safe for him to come."

"Oh, so she commented about the lychees on purpose?" asked Levy.

After a short pause, Natsu finally answered: "No, I think she forgot about the mission".

Everyone giggled at this. They were interrupted by a rustling sound coming from the speakers. They all quieted down to hear someone apologizing and Lucy muttering something about that being weird.

Levy, as the group's analyst, intervened: "Someone probably ran into her. Nothing to worry about."

Everyone nodded, acknowledging the information.

The room went silent once more, as Lucy came to view again with her groceries. They all watched as she got out of the store with her bags, struggled with them, then almost fell down. Worry, then relief and the feeling of victory rushed through them as they saw the scene unfold in front of their eyes.

They then followed Lucy by GPS, having no more video coverage of the situation.

_Well, this is my house. It's a bit small, but it's more than enough since I live alone. Oh, and I know it's not a very safe place, since the people here don't really live looking out their windows, but it's still my home!_

"Reassuring him again. Nice work Lu-chan" whispered Levy.

_Now, where are those k-_

The sound of shuffling followed by a small whimper and the sound of a struggle where heard. Even though everyone was worried for their friend, they knew they couldn't intervene until they knew were the murderer lived.

When the struggle stopped, what everyone presumed to be Lucy's body fell to the ground with a thud.

_Target acquired. _

The man's dull voice resonated throughout the room, sending shivers down everyone's spines.  
The atmosphere thickened as Erza, Gray and Natsu clenched their teeth and Levy and Juvia looked at each other, each trying to find reassurance in the other._  
_

"Juvia, go check if both the cars and the helicopter are ready to go" ordered Erza.

Juvia immediately left the room to do as she was asked.

**A/N: Hey people! Did you like this chapter? Should I continue writing with Lucy's POV for the next chap or keep it like it was before?  
**

**Oh, and FDsecretart : yeah you're crazy but don't worry, we all are a bit :'D  
**

**~Snow**


	5. The turn for the worst

**Hi guys! I'm soooooo sorry I didn't update for so long! It's just... school, you know what I mean. But now i'm back, I promise! I think i'll update at least once a week from now on since now i'm practically on vacation :D**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

The whole team was now on standby, waiting to hear any sounds or see any movement coming from Lucy's side. Nothing could be heard coming from the extra sound-sensitive microphone.

Everything and everyone was frozen for 10 to 15 minutes. Then the sound of an engine sounded through the speakers, followed soon after by the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Looks like he came back to get her." said Levy.

* * *

Lucy jolted awake when her body was thrown into what she assumed to be a minivan.

She recovered her startled senses just in time to see the door sliding shut and sat up only to be thrown back to the ground when the van started moving.

After a while, the van suddenly stopped, sending Lucy crashing against the van's front. The van was dimly lit, so she could barely see what was surrounding her.

With an "ow", Lucy sat back up, rubbing her head. The door next to her slid open, revealing light grey eyes and dark brown hair.

"Oh look, you're up."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this? Where are you taking me?" asked Lucy, falsely scared.

"Don't act like you don't know dearie. I've been watching the police for quite some time, and I know you're part of them."

_Does he know? If he does, I'm in big trouble. Maybe he's just trying to find out if I came from Fairy Tail or not?_

"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm not from the police! Why are you watching them? Are you a wanted criminal? Please don't-"

She was cut off by the man's stern glare.

"Stop acting like you don't know. Now who do you work for?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

The man, who was previously leaning against the wall, was now slowly approaching her. Lucy wanted to back away, but the cold coming from her back reminded her that she was already against the van's cool steel. She could only watch, frozen in terror, true terror, as the man approached her, very slowly, almost cautiously. But he wasn't cautious: he was too relaxed. This freaked Lucy out even more.

Then, a kick was sent flying into her stomach, sending her to the dirty ground once more. Lucy tried to catch her breath; in vain as the man was kicking her again, and again, and again. She started coughing out blood and managed to get out, in a voice barely above a whisper:

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Hearing this, the man stopped. He crouched down next to her, and just when she thought he was done beating her, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and stood up, forcing her to go up with him. Lucy barely contained a scream. He slapped her on the face, hard. Then he lowered his head to her ear level, and said lowly:

"Tell me now. Who do you work for?"

Lucy was trying to decide if it was best she told him or not. But she knew that if she blew her cover it'd be much, much worse.

Lucy spat out the remaining blood in her mouth and said:

"No one." insisting on the two words.

The next thing she knew she was thrown to the floor once more, receiving kicks to the legs, the arms, her stomach, her back... No matter how she was positioned, she just kept receiving kicks.

* * *

At Fairy Tail, Erza and Natsu were fighting about if they should intervene or not.  
The kicks and blows were clearly heard through the transmitter and were making Levy cringe repeatedly.

"Erza it's my fault she doing this, I'm not letting her get any more hits because of me"

"Natsu, we are not going to intervene. She knew what she signed up for when she agreed to do this, now let her do her job."

"Her job was to find the guy's house, not get beaten to death!"

"She'll be fine."

"No she won't! She hasn't received any training at all! She could end up in a coma, or worse-"

Natsu was suddenly cut off by Lucy's weak voice.

"I can handle it."

Her words were now laced with determination. The kicks stopped after that.

"What did you say?"

* * *

"I.. can handle it" repeated Lucy.

Slowly, she began standing up, making the brunette stop in surprise;

"I... can handle it." it was barely a mumble escaping her frail body, but she just knew that her friends had to hear that. So she said that again, louder. This time her attacker heard her.

"Oh really now, you can handle this?" he yelled, kicking her so hard she went flying across the van. Lucy still didn't scream. Instead, she calmly stated:

"I can handle this."

The man was now enraged, so he evacuated his rage on her. After about a minute of relentless kicking, getting no reaction from the half conscious girl, he decided it wasn't fun any more.

"Well, I'm done." he said, walking towards her.

When he arrived at her level, he pulled her up, by the arm this time, making Lucy cringe at the contact with her bruised arm.

"Now, where are those bugs? Could they be under your shirt?"

The blonde's eyes widened at that statement. The man searched her pockets, and then the jean's fabric. Feeling something, he smirked:

"Or in your jacket? You can be thankful it wasn't under your shirt blondie."

He roughly pulled her jacket off, and opened the van's door, blinding Lucy by the sudden burst of light. Her eyes accommodated just in time to see a fist flying her way before losing consciousness once more.

"By the way, you can call me Erigor" was the last thing she heard.

* * *

The last sound the team heard was of the bug getting crashed to the floor and against the man's foot before the connection was lost.  
Gray crashed his fist against the wall, yelling  
"DAMN IT!"  
Levy was desperately trying to restore her connection, even though they knew that the bug had been damaged beyond working point.  
Erza was muttering a new plan while Juvia was murmuring soothing words to Gray.

The team was so busy doing their own thing that they didn't notice Natsu storm out of the room, phone and car keys in hand.

* * *

It was a 25 minute drive.

Lucy awoke after about ten minutes with a massive headache. She quickly regained her spirits when she realised the situation she was in. Adrenaline fuelled her body. Lucy stood up slowly, using the van's wall as support. Her body was screaming at her to stop, but as she felt the adrenaline make its way through her, the searing pain disappeared, as did her fear. She had to find a way out of there, and soon.

The blonde felt along the walls, seeing nothing but darkness making her rely on her other senses to find a handle, or even a window, something that she could try to break. Her hands could find nothing else than the van's cool steel. In a desperate attempt, she even tried the rooftop and floor, to no avail.

Finally, the adrenaline flow having stopped, she felt the pain return tenfold, and decided to give up, letting herself slide down along a wall. It was no use. She really was stuck.

It was a 25 minute drive, but it felt much, much longer for Lucy. Every passing minute felt like another passing hour, and at each minute her hope that Fairy Tail would find her decreased.

She still felt groggy from the chloroform.

'This is it, I'm gonna die. This guy just killed 6 girls and I'm going to be the seventh.'

The van once more stopped moving. As Lucy expected, the door's opening followed shortly after.

"Come on out blondie."

Lucy hesitantly stoop up, looking at her feet, pondering if she should just try to make a run for it or not. She caught a glance of the man holding her captive.

Getting off the van she decided not to, scared of what he'd do to her if he caught up to her. She just had to have faith in her friends back at Fairy Tail. Even though it was getting harder and harder.

Looking up she realized she was in a nice neighborhood. To say that Lucy was surprised was an understatement: she was expecting to arrive in a rundown neighborhood, not this kind of place where all the houses, though all different and architect-designed, were perfectly aligned, had grass so green it seemed to be watered six hours a day.. It seemed like such a perfect neighborhood.  
Noticing Lucy's surprise, her captor – whose name she now remembered to be Erigor - smirked at her and said :

"It's always at the last place you think to look right? Believe it or not, this place is perfect for my... activities" he said, licking his lips at that last word, before continuing "Sound proof walls, neighbors so rich they're mostly away on vacation... you'd be surprised the things you can do right under their noses. Actually, you're about to find out."

Lucy was now way beyond scared. She was terrified. Terrified of what this man could actually do to her. As she was letting her wild imagination run loose on all the worst case scenarios (the worst one obviously being death), she felt a light shove on her back.

"Come on in before I have to drag you all the way"

The blonde haired woman decided it would be better to comply, at least for now, seeing no better option. She was pushed inside of a nice looking house, stopping briefly to let the scary looking man close the door behind her. Taking advantage of that time, the young woman mapped down as much as she could from the house, especially all the exits: if she was going to escape, there no way she'd let herself land into a doorless or windowless room. Feeling herself being pulled again, she unwillingly made her way up a staircase, to what looked to be the main bedroom.

Lucy was forced to look down as she was pushed inside, but when she looked back up to take in her surroundings, she wished she'd never done that. Her eyes met with pure horror, and she had to refrain from vomiting.

Blood.

There was so much blood.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, it's been a while. Almost a year. Please don't kill me. I broke my laptop, which kind of disgusted me from writing since I had a lot of things written in there. But now that I'm in my final year of highschool and work will be piling up like crazy, i'm 100% sure i'll just procrastinate by writing fanfiction. So this time for real, i'm back! I promise I'm not giving this fanfic up.  
I know this chapter's kinda short, but another one will come in one or two days! Anyway, enjoy!**

Lucy fell to her knees, not able to look away from the terrible sight. The once pure white walls were now stained a deep crimson. The stench of it was unbearable. Next to her were dried up puddles of blood, staining the floor in a similar fashion as with the walls. Right in front of her, against the wall was a simple metallic desk, next to a big window.

"Stay here" ordered Erigor before going back the way they both came from, making sure the door locked itself behind him. Self-locking door, noticed Lucy. She immediately stood up, ignoring her senses and going straight to the window.

It was big, two people could easily fit in there. Sure enough, the handle had been ripped off and the glass was double layered, too thick to break with her bare hands. Lucy wasted no time in looking around the room for anything she could use, if not to break the window open, to defend herself against her captor. She went to the desk, noticing it had been recently cleaned. The blonde didn't even want to know why that was. It was too heavy for her to lift, too sturdy for her to break.

By that time her captor had come back, holding a small briefcase. Lucy heard the distinctive click of the door lock as he closed it.

"You know, usually I would just tie you up, rape and kill ya," he said, making his way towards the desk while Lucy went to the far corner of the room, making herself as small as possible, "but since you're with the cops, you deserve special treatment."

He was now right in front of the desk, his back to Lucy. He started emptying the contents of the briefcase, what they were the blonde had no idea as the man's body prevented her from seeing.  
'This is my only chance!' thought Lucy. She took a deep breath, and lunged at him.

"Lucy kick!" yelled Lucy as she kicked him where it hurts.

Erigor instantly crouched down in pain, allowing Lucy's eyes to spot a baton on the desk. She grabbed it and lunged towards the window. She hit it once, making a small crack appear on the glass. She retracted her arm to gain momentum once more. _This time, I'm sure, the glass will break! _

The baton never hit the glass.

Her captor had caught her wrist right before she had started swinging it. Not giving the blonde the time to even realise what was going on, he pulled down on her wrist while slamming his knee in her already sore stomach. Lucy started spitting out blood, as once more he showered her with kicks.

After a few minutes though he had had enough, so he marched over to the desk where he grabbed a pair of handcuffs, and grabbing her by her wrists, he brought her to the centre of the room. That was when Lucy noticed the chains hanging from the ceiling, right where a light bulb was supposed to be. Understanding what he was about to do, she started squirming in his grasp, but no avail. She was too weakened by his blows. A single punch to the stomach made her stop moving entirely.

Erigor attached Lucy to the chains, taking pleasure in knowing that the thin handcuffs would rub her wrists raw if she moved too much. After making sure her feet were just inches above the ground so her weight would be entirely on her wrists, he stepped back, admiring his work.  
Lucy could barely lift her head. Her top was now partially red from the blood she'd coughed up, and the exposed parts of her body were already bruising, turning a dark shade of blue. She was facing the window.

"Beautiful" whispered Erigor. "But I can make it even better."

Turning towards his desk, he grabbed a simple knife, testing its sharpness against his own thumb, smirking in satisfaction when it effortlessly cut his skin, leaving a small red blood trail.

"Now, tell me, who do you work for?"

Lucy kept silent. It was useless denying it as he had found the bugs, but it would probably be much worse if she told him. Erigor was slowly making his way towards her.

"You know I killed six young girls before you, don't think I won't kill you," he insisted. That's when he tried to pull her shirt up.

"Attached, huh? That's Bisca for you"

Lucy's eyes widened. _How did he guess that?_

"Oh, come on, I'm not stupid. They're the only ones stupid enough to pull a stunt like this. And of course I did my research on them."

At this he retracted his arm to take a swing at her. Lucy closed her eyes, knowing what would come.  
A few seconds passed, but she felt nothing. She opened her eyes, finding Erigor frozen in place. That was when she heard a 'click', sounding distinctly like a firearm's safety being removed. A new voice reached her ears:

"Get away from her. Now."

She instantly recognized it to be Natsu's voice. Tears prickled her eyes.

"Natsu!" she shouted happily.  
"Are you okay?" he softly asked.  
"I am now."


	7. Chapter 7

That was the moment of distraction Erigor needed. He grabbed Lucy and turned her around so she was face to Natsu, in between the two men, and put his knife to her throat. Lucy winced at the harsh movements, the handcuffs digging into her skin.

"Drop the gun. Do it, or the girl dies."

Natsu hesitated just a second too long. Erigor press the knife a bit harder to Lucy's throat, making a bit of blood drip down onto her shirt, staining it even more. That made Natsu immediately drop the gun on the floor, putting his hands up.

"Okay, just don't hurt her anymore" he pleaded.

"Well, we'll see about that. Sit," he ordered

Natsu immediately complied. In his mind it didn't matter anyway - he just needed to buy some time for him to hatch an escape plan.

"So, I see I'm finally face to face with the one and only Natsu Dragneel?" Erigor asked, dragging his blade lightly across Lucy's neck. The blade was pressed gently enough that it didn't cut the blonde, but hard enough that both teens knew that any wrong movement would mean the end of Lucy's life. Her life was currently in her captor's hands.

"What's it to you?" he harshly replied.

Erigor's eyes slitted.

"Watch the tone, boy," he said darkly. Then continued in a lighter tone: "I think it was more than time that I met the person who was chasing after me for so long, wasn't it?"

Natsu didn't answer, his eyes zeroed in on the knife held to the blonde's neck.

"So, tell me, wh-" the end of that sentence never reached neither Lucy nor Natsu's ears.

The sound of Erigor's voice had been replaced by the sound of the window crashing, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

Time then seemed to slow for Lucy, even though it all happened so fast.

The blonde didn't understand what was happening at first, but she then heard a pair of feet landing behind her, closely followed by to other people.

"Drop the knife!" the first one yelled. Lucy recognized it to be Gray's voice.

That was the one moment of distraction that Natsu needed.

Natsu took advantage of the confusion to lunge at Erigor, tackling him to the ground, the former on top of the latter. Erigor launched his elbow up, hitting Natsu in the stomach, effectively knocking all the air out of him. They switched positions: Erigor tried to punch Natsu in the face, but he managed to dodge it on time.

After a similar exchange of blows, Erigor was finally knocked out with a single, big punch to the jaw, and handcuffed. Meanwhile Gray (who Lucy recognized later was followed by Juvia and Erza) – got Lucy down from the chains. They all went down the stairs, where the smell of blood wasn't as strong.

A short stunned silence then followed, no one knowing what to say. Erza was finally the one to break it.

"Natsu you idiot! You could've gotten yourself killed! Don't run off like that again!"

Said boy shrugged. "It's fine, isn't it? You all got here on time, so no harm done."

"No harm done? Look at Lucy, you idiot" she whisper-shouted.

Lucy was still shaking from what had just happened, her eyes fixed on the unconscious man in front of her. She was finding it a bit hard to take all the recent events in. The blonde was also having trouble with knowing that she had been seconds from being stabbed, or having her throat sliced, had Natsu not intervened. _Natsu. _He was standing in front of her right now, looking at her in the eyes. But she couldn't tear her gaze away from _him. _She knew her body was shaking, but couldn't seem to stop it.

Natsu stared at her for a few seconds, Lucy's mind barely registering anything more than his presence, when Natsu decided to call her name.

"Lucy."

She didn't answer, eyes still fixated on Erigor's body on the ground. So Natsu stood up straighter, put himself in between Erigor and the blonde, and gently set his hands on her arms. This time he said, more soflty:

"Luce, hey."

Lucy's eyes snapped over to him, his combined actions making her mind go back to reality and her to her own body.

"It's over. You're gonna be okay. I'm sorry I put you in danger, It won't happen again."

Lucy looked up to find those dark obsidian eyes, finding in them the comfort she needed, and all the comfort she would ever need. Unbeknownst to her then, it's also where she found her strength: she decided to stop mulling over what had just happened and just live in the present. So she tilted her head a bit to the right, and asked:

"Did you just call me Luce?"

Natsu blushed a bit, though only Erza seemed to take notice.

"Well, yeah, it's easier to say your name that way. So... it's my nickname for you!" he answered, grinning from ear to ear.

Hearing that, a huge smile made its way to Lucy's face. The happiness on hey face soon evaporated as another thought came to mind:

"Wait, how did you find me anyway? I thought the bug had been crashed."

At this Natsu grinned and stepped closer to her, closing the already small distance between them.

"Wh-what are you doing?' Lucy stuttered.

Instead of answering, Natsu reached towards her hair, searching for a few seconds and pulling out of it a well hidden hair pin.

_Huh, how did that get in there? _Lucy thought. She never wore hair pins, as she deemed them too hard to put on correctly. A light bulb then lighted in her head. _Don't tell me..._

**~ Flashback ~**

After everyone had said their goodbyes and see-you-laters to Lucy, they left, except for Natsu, who stayed behind. Lucy having noticed this, she stayed in place, wondering why he wasn't following the others.  
Natsu approached Lucy cautiously, so she wouldn't panic and take a few steps back. The less she knew about what he was about to do, the better. He only stopped when they were inches apart: seeing her blush, he decided to have more fun and set his hand on her cheek. Which made her blush even more. Natsu was finding that hilarious. _It's kind of cute, though, _thought Natsu. _Anyway, b__ack to the task at hand!_  
The pinkette found a stray lock of hair and put it behind her ear, attaching it with the hair pin he already had in his hand in a natural motion. After double checking to make sure it was securely attached and hidden in her golden blonde hair, Natsu removed his hand and stepped back a little, allowing the blonde more personal space.

Lucy was now profusely blushing, probably not understanding anything that had just happened. Natsu wished her good luck, not bothering with a reason as to why he'd just done what he did, and turned back to the elevator. Once in it, he got out his cell phone and made sure the gps chip inserted in the hair pin was functioning correctly.

**End of flashback**

"Wow, that's kind of smart, Natsu," admitted Gray. Not feeling right just complimenting him, he instantly followed up with an insult: "for someone like you".

Natsu didn't bother answering - he knew that when he would have his revenge when Gray would be caught stripping in front of Erza, which would be right about...

"GRAY, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOUR CLOTHES?"

Now.

A few minutes later, Lucy, Juvia and Erza, along with a beat up Gray and Natsu (the latter had gotten beat up by Erza because he'd laughed at his "best friend" when he was having his ass kicked) went back to the car. The police had gotten there, interrupting any ass kicking, to retrieve Erigor.  
They started the drive to Fairy Tail in silence, after Lucy insisted that she didn't need to go to the hospital as she only had bruises and could bandage herself up. After a while Natsu spoke:

"Say, how did you guys find me at Erigor's?"

"..."

The silence was deafening.

"Don't tell me... You bugged my car _again!_" Natsu shouted.

It they hadn't been in the car, Lucy swore, an all-out brawl would have started right then and there. Though throughout the car ride, a single thought lingered in Lucy's head:

_I want to join Fairy Tail!_

* * *

**Hey there! As promised, new chapter! Hope you liked it! I feel like I've rushed a part of the ending (near the start of the chapter) though. Do you think I should rewrite it to be a bit longer? **

**Well, until next time!**


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